Denzel Washington Covers GQ Magazine

The Oscar-Award winning actor graces the cover of October’s issue of GQ magazine and talks that talk about who influences him as an actor, who he’d want to play him in a biopic and offers some words of wisdom to live by.

Check out a few excerpts from the interview below:

Is there an actor who has influenced you?
There’s a scene in The Godfather II. De Niro’s in a theater. And he’s looking back. It’s just a look. I don’t think I’ve ever imitated another actor, but there’s nothing wrong with learning from them.

Do you have any code you live by?
I read from the Bible every day, and I read my Daily Word. I read something great yesterday. It said, “Don’t aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.”

We interrupt this interview for a moment of silence to marvel at this masterpiece of a man…

Ok. As you were….

In some ways, you’re a cipher. There’s not much you put out there.
But that’s not my job to put stuff out there. Sidney Poitier told me this years ago: “If they see you for free all week, they won’t pay to see you on the weekend, because they feel like they’ve seen you. If you walk by the magazine section in the supermarket and they’ve known you all their life, there’s no mystery. They can’t take the ride.” My professional work is being a better actor. I don’t know how to be a celebrity.

When the Denzel biopic is made, what would an actor need to have in his performance to make you say, “He got me”?
That suggests I know what it is, and I don’t want to know what it is. That’s part of the mystery. It is what it is. I don’t go, “I gotta make sure I put some of that Denzel Washington-ism in the movie.” I don’t want tricks. I don’t want to lose my mojo.